Please for the love of god, download the threaded version. I spent over an hour trying to figure out why php5apache2.dll could not be found, and while desperately looking through manuals I went into the php 5 structure and found that it doesn't exist in the non-threaded version.

This really could use a mention somewhere other than the PHP 5 structure, like the paragraph to the left of the homepage which talks about which PHP version to choose, or this part of the manual which covers Apache... Anywhere but structure, seriously. I would have never guessed to look there.

If you are having issues getting the PHPIniDir or LoadModule directives to work and all the suggestions already given do not help, double-check if you are not using fancy quotes around your paths (‘ ’  “ ”).

This happened to me because I copied the statements from a random website. In my text editor the difference was barely noticeable, but to Apache it certainly is!

For example, this will not work:
PHPIniDir “C:/PHP7”

But this will work:
PHPIniDir "C:/PHP7"

Running PHP under FastCGI:

Besides the following in your httpd.conf

    LoadModule fcgid_module modules/mod_fcgid.so  
    FcgidInitialEnv PHPRC "c:/php" 
    AddHandler fcgid-script .php  
    FcgidWrapper "c:/php/php-cgi.exe" .php

Remember to add the following to the default <Directory "C:/apache/htdocs"> block (or virtual host blocks):

    Options ExecCGI

Installing Apache and PHP on Windows 7 Home Premium on a Gateway NV75S laptop with a quad AMD A6-3400M

All I need to do with these programs is to test my website out on my laptop.  I have HTML and PHP files. I do not need MySQL as I use html5 storage.

Getting and installing Apache

1  In your browser go to h t t p : / / h t t p d . a p a c h e . o r g / d o w n l o a d . c g i
   (without the spaces)
2  Click on  httpd-2.2.22-win32-x86-no_ssl.msi
   (this is a self-installing executable file without crypto ... no Secure Socket Layer)
   (2.2.22 was the latest version on April 25, 2012)
3  Click on the httpd-2.2.22-win32-x86-no_ssl.msi file after it downloads 
   (single click on the file tab in Chrome or double click on the actual file in Downloads)
4  Click Next
5  Click I accept the terms in the license agreement
6  Click Next
7  Click Next
8  Type localhost in the top box
9  Type localhost in the middle box
10 Type admin@localhost.com in the bottom box
11 Click Next
12 Click Next
13 Click Next
14 Click Install and wait
15 Cick Yes to allow the program to make changes
16 Click Finish

Testing Apache

1  Type localhost in your browser location box (I use Chrome) or type h t t p : / / l o c a l h o s t
   (without the spaces)
2  The message It works! should appear.

Getting and installing PHP

1  In your browser go to h t t p : / / w i n d o w s . p h p . n e t / d o w n l o a d /
   (without the spaces)
2  Click on the Installer link under PHP 5.3 (5.3.10)   VC9 x86 Thread Safe
   (Ignore the Do NOT use VC9 version with apache.org binaries comment on the side panel)
3  Click on the php-5.3.10-Win32-VC9-x86.msi file after in downloads
   (single click on the file tab in Chrome or double click on the actual file in Downloads)
4  Click Next
5  Click I accept the terms in the License Agreement
6  Click Next
7  Click Next
8  Click Apache 2.2.x Module
9  Click Next
10 Click Browse
11 Double click Apache Software Foundation
12 Double click Apache 2.2
13 Double click conf
14 Click OK
15 Click Next
16 Click Next
17 Click Install and wait
18 Cick Yes to allow the program to make changes
19 Click Finish

Testing PHP with Apache

1  Open Notepad
2  Type 'left bracket character'?php phpinfo(); ?'right bracket character'
3  Save the file to C:\Program Files (x86)\Apache Software Foundation\Apache2.2\htdocs as test.php
4  Type localhost/test.php in your browser location box (I use Chrome) or type h t t p : / / l o c a l h o s t / t e s t . p h p
5  A table with title PHP Version ... should appear

DONE

On my Windows, I still need to add the ExecCGI option to make mod_fcgid work:

<FilesMatch \.php$>
    Options +ExecCGI
    SetHandler fcgid-script
</FilesMatch>

This for the fastest architecture of Apache on Windows faster than as module for php

Enable mod_proxy and mod_proxy_fcgi in httpd.conf and run 
setx PHP_FCGI_CHILDREN "15" /m
setx PHP_FCGI_MAX_REQUESTS "1000" /m
and download 
RunHiddenConsole.exe  and start php with c:\hidden\RunHiddenConsole.exe C:\PHP\php-cgi.exe -b 127.0.0.1:9000 and set on VirtualHost :
<Files ~ "\.(php|phtml)$"> 
    SetHandler "proxy:fcgi://127.0.0.1:9000#"
    ProxyFCGIBackendType GENERIC
    ProxyFCGISetEnvIf "true" SCRIPT_FILENAME "C:%{reqenv:SCRIPT_FILENAME}" 
    </Files>
retar the Apache service and have fun. Cheers from one huge fan of